It is common for manufacturers of motor vehicles to purchase the components of an automobile from outside manufacturing concerns as a way to reduce production costs. The components may be provided as lower order sub-assemblies which are to be installed in higher order sub-assemblies, which will in turn be installed on an automobile. Doors and the various sub-assemblies making up a door, lend themselves to being supplied at least partially pre-assembled, and such a door is referred to as a modular door assembly.
Typically in the prior art a fully assembled door will have a window, a window regulator device to lift or drive the window up and down within the door frame, and an interior trim panel which aesthetically covers the exterior door frame.
The regulator device which drives the window is typically attached securely to the door frame, then the window is positioned within some guides and then interfaced with the window driving device by a coupling such as a bushing. The installation of the bushing usually requires that an assembler be able to see and reach the bushing in order to properly secure it. Lastly, the interior trim panel is attached to the door frame covering over the window guides, the window driving device and a portion of the window.
Because the bushing must be accessible to an assembler, this precludes attaching the interior trim panel to the door frame before fully installing the window within the door. In addition, there may be physical limitations present in an assembly line which hamper the full installation of the window into the door. For exmaple, the assembly line may be positioned against a wall or laid out in such a manner that the assembler cannot easily gain access to the interior side of a door, making it difficult to view and secure the window to the window drive device easily and quickly.
This interfacing problem has hampered the development of a modular door panel assembly, which would include pre-assembled in the interior trim panel the window drive mechanism. Heretofore, it had been assumed that, in such a modular door assembly, careful and precise alignment of the window drive with the window connector would be necessary in joining the modular door panels together.